Laptop batteries, charging and plugging in

[stpauler]

The company I work for is slowly switching over everyone from desktops to laptops. It’s a large company but we’re also all still using Internet Explorer and Windows 7, so not very technologically competitive. I was training in a new employee today and noticed that while his laptop was docked, the battery icon in the corner never moved from 49%. He said that the helpdesk sent out an email and had him switch a couple things so that if the laptop is going to be docked, that it would not charge the battery but would be powered directly from the dock instead (presumably to save the life of the battery).

Now I’m at home on my personal laptop-running Windows 10- and wondering if I should switch it over too.

The two questions I have are:

1. Does it really save the life of the battery as I thought the new lithium Ion batteries didn’t have that problem?

2. If it is better for the battery, how do I go about switching it in Windows 10?

Thanks!

[harmonicamoon]

My first laptop battery died prematurely. It was always plugged in.

The tech said to take it down below 50% at least once a month. It seems to be working.

[jz78817]

@harmonicamoon

My first laptop battery died prematurely. It was always plugged in.

The tech said to take it down below 50% at least once a month. It seems to be working.

do not do this. Lithium-ion batteries degrade both from age and # of charge-discharge cycles.

[wolfpup]

@jz78817

do not do this. Lithium-ion batteries degrade both from age and # of charge-discharge cycles.

This is true but the degradation can be minimized if they’re kept cool and undergo a minimum of charge cycles, both of which conditions are violated if the battery is in a situation where it’s always charging or being maintained at charge, especially inside a hot laptop.

I knew someone who (against my advice) kept their laptop running most of the time and just let it go to sleep at night. They needed to replace the battery almost every year. Meanwhile I have an old laptop in which I’ve been very careful with battery use. The thing admittedly isn’t used very often, but it’s nearly a decade old and the original battery is still good enough to power it for at least several hours.

[beowulff]

@wolfpup

This is true but the degradation can be minimized if they’re kept cool and undergo a minimum of charge cycles, both of which conditions are violated if the battery is in a situation where it’s always charging or being maintained at charge, especially inside a hot laptop.

I knew someone who (against my advice) kept their laptop running most of the time and just let it go to sleep at night. They needed to replace the battery almost every year. Meanwhile I have an old laptop in which I’ve been very careful with battery use. The thing admittedly isn’t used very often, but it’s nearly a decade old and the original battery is still good enough to power it for at least several hours.

Oh, bah!
I’ve had laptops which were plugged in and kept charging (and never turned off) for 6+ years and still had 70% of their original battery life at the end of that time period. Modern battery charge controllers do the right thing to keep their batteries at optimal condition.

[ftg]

Agreed. While it used to be common for laptops to trickle charge a full-ish battery, newer devices should not do this. If the laptop is plugged in and the battery is full it should be running off the cord. Note the use of “should”. Who knows where someone screwed up or took a shortcut.

I have a cheapo bluetooth/SDcard/radio thing that runs of a rechargeable battery. The instructions warn to to leave it plugged in once the charge light goes out. Leaving it in will apparently ruin the battery and kill the device. Like I said, cheapo. (But it’s a fun little toy so far.)